Chris Cuomo, Byron Donalds clash over Trump indictment

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) got into a heated exchange Tuesday night with Chris Cuomo on his NewsNation show over Trump’s indictment on charges of mishandling classified information.

“A president of the United States is different than everybody else because they are the executive branch,” Donalds said. “They are the ones who dictate all steps, all terms, what is classified information and also what is not classified information.”

Donalds was defending Trump, comparing his alleged crimes to documents scandals involving Joe Biden, Bill Clinton and Mike Pence. But Cuomo wasn’t having any of Donalds’s arguments, saying they don’t hold any legal logic.

“In politics, if you’re explaining, you’re losing. And everything you’re saying, Congressman Donalds, is very effective fodder for the [Trump] campaign,” Cuomo said.

Annabelle Gordon/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Trump was arraigned Tuesday in Miami on 37 federal felony counts related to mishandling classified information, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information and conspiring to obstruct justice. In April, he became the first president to be indicted on criminal charges, when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought charges of falsifying business records and other counts against him. He is now the first to face federal charges.

“[Trump] got indicted because of his own words, and the notes from his lawyer, and from his staffer put him trying to make documents go away, trying to not deal with the DOJ in ways that go beyond simple non-compliance,” Cuomo later added.

He argued that Trump being unwilling to turn over the documents when he left the White House — and even after requests from the National Archives and Records Administration — puts him in a “different category” than others.

“When you have somebody who doesn’t cooperate, who fights it, who gets people to make things up and makes it clear that he wants to use subterfuge, deceit, to get out of something, you’re in a different category, Congressman Donalds,” Cuomo said. “And if you had done that, you’d be getting prosecuted.”

More Trump indictment coverage from The Hill

• ‘This day will go down in infamy’: Trump rages in post-arraignment speech

• Trump unloads on special counsel Jack Smith in speech hours after arraignment

• John Kelly: Trump is ‘scared s—less’

• GOP fears Trump legal woes will boomerang on them 

Donalds called Trump’s prosecution “political,” remarking on special counsel Jack Smith’s history of high-profile cases involving politicians and noting that the Biden White House counsel was asked by the Justice Department about Biden’s executive privilege over the documents during the investigation.

“Does Joe Biden’s DOJ and, frankly, does Joe Biden’s White House counsel, do they do that if we’re talking about Hillary Clinton? You and I both know the answer is no,” Donalds said.

“I’m telling you today that if you tell me they would open this up for a Democrat official. Yeah, I’m telling you, you’re not paying attention to the way politics are done in 2023,” he said.

Outside the charges already filed in New York and Florida, Trump is facing two other investigations over possible misconduct. Smith is also leading an investigation in Washington, D.C., regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. And an investigation is near completion in Georgia over claims that Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.

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